my second time working with black icing. i use the chocolate can stuff. first time was the black and white stenciled wedding cake inmy photos. well i am still kinda new to this and never took a class so there's a lot of do's and don'ts i don't know. i THOUGHT i was suposed to refrigerate the cake at all times being buttercream. so i did the whole thing and put it in the fridge and then the black starting seeping into the white and even running down the sides. i scraped and re did it the day of. i kept putting it in and out of the fridge. it did it again!!! it was also super super hot that day and i live in a really humid area. just getting it to the car and to the location it was preactically melting.

so this time, being as it's fall i thought i would be fine. this was a halloween cake with black piping all over. i iced the cakes, i also use the wet spatula method for smoothing. idk if that has anything to do with it. i put the iced cakes in the freezer for about 20 to get them to harden up because they were super soft. then i pulled the bottom tier out, it sat for a few minutes while i was getting ready to pipe on it. decorated it. pulled the smaller tier out, stacked and decorated it. it looked pretty awesome then i put it in the fridge overnight. partly because i didn't have a safe place to keep it out anywhere (i have kids) and secondly because the black i was piping with was kinda thin and runny looking. it was making me nervous so i wanted to harden it up a bit. so this morning i checked on it and just the top tier was bleeding it's not too terrible but i'm so annoyed. when i was decorating it i could see little tiny like water beads on the surface. from humidity i guess? bummer. so i took it out of the fridge and have it sitting out. is that bad or good? i THINK the bottom tier is starting to seep but i'm not sure if it already was doing that.

Condensation is causing your colors to run. If your butter cream can be left out safely do not put your cake in the fridge. I have never put a cake in the fridge because I am scared the condensation will mess up the colors.

I agree with vgray and you may also consider putting a bit of powder sugar in the canned icing to stiffen it for piping. You really are talented and your pics are awesome! Keep up the good work and just keep learning the 'tricks of the trade' (you'll find PLENTY of help right here).
HTH

Like vgray says condensation is your culprit. Instead of using canned icing make your own buttercream with half butter and half shortening or all shortening. To make any of it black just add some cocoa and then some black icing color, not liquid like McCormicks. You will find that you can do more with homemade buttercream than canned icing.It can be safely left out for a few days and works beautifully.
evelyn

so at this point leave it out til the party?

Yes I would unless there is any fruit or cream cheese involved.